External Reviews for Langoa Barton

Source: Morrell & Company

07/08/2009

Absolutely spectacular from bottle, with massive power and structure, the saturated purple-colored 2000 Leoville Barton is one of the greatest wines ever made at this estate. The wine has smoky, earthy notes intermixed with graphite, camphor, damp earth, jammy cassis, cedar, and a hint of mushroom. Enormous, even monstrous in the mouth, with tremendous extraction, broodingly backward, dense flavors, and copious tannins, this should prove to be one of the longest-lived wines of the vintage and one of the most compelling Leoville Bartons ever made.

Good full ruby-red. Black cherry, cassis and minerals on the nose. As fine-grained as the 2001, but with deeper, more chocolatey flavors of cassis, black cherry, licorice and minerals, nicely framed by harmonious acidity. Finishes impressively long, with substantial but fine tannins. Impeccably balanced wine.

Somehow Barton has overcome the heat of the 2003 vintage and has come out with a new wine that is rich and elegant. There are generous tannins, ripe black currant fruits, balancing acidity, all in an ensemble that is so much more than the sum of its parts.

Intense blackberry and cherry, with hints of currant. Toasted oak and sweet tobacco too. Roses and other flowers, such as lilacs. Full-bodied, with masses of tannins yet incredibly long and seductive. Best after 2012.

The 1988 Legrave;oville-Barton is a classic example of the vintage. The tannins are hard, but the wine exhibits plenty of depth, an inner core of juicy cassis fruit, firm structure, and very good length. This is an excellent wine, with plenty of rich, deep, curranty fruit to balance out the tannins. Anticipated maturity: 1996ndash;2012.